The high cost of analyzing and inspecting structures on a regular basis to ensure structural integrity has plagued industries that rely on the soundness of these structures. Structures such as buildings, oil rigs, aircraft and the like require periodic analyses and inspections to uncover potential weaknesses that endanger the safety of the personnel who use these structures.
However, when periodic analyses and inspections are conducted, large amounts of data are generated, and a need arises to collate and correlate the data to assess the structure effectively. The data analysis is typically complex because it involves multiple key parameters, spanning different tables across various databases. In addition, various data formats are used to present data, including tabulated text data, annotated engineering drawings, photographic records, graphical plots, audio and videotaped records.
Current software offerings only provide a single set or dimension of correlated and collated data at a time. Data are usually presented in a two dimensional grid, and as a result, the user has to look at the correlated data in piecemeal fashion, i.e., one set of correlated data presented in one grid at a time.
In addition, another problem presented by current software products is the lack of flexibility in querying data. While current software products can perform complex collation and correlation of data derived from a large and disparate set of databases, the databases have to be pre-configured at the design-time of the information systems. For example, a pre-configured query may provide the user with information that correlates parts in an aircraft with the respective part number from the part manufacturer. However, unless the relevant databases have been pre-configured at design-time, the user will be unable to obtain information that correlates parts in an aircraft with the respective repair history for each part. Thus, a user cannot reorient the data with respect to a new criterion or a new database that is not known and selected in the design phase of the information system. As a result, the user is unable to perform ad-hoc querying at run-time.
Furthermore, current software products do not allow the user to update the correlated data from the data display. Instead, current software products provide a pre-processed display form of the data in a database, and any updates to the data must be applied directly to the database, rather than through the pre-processed display form of the data presented to the user.
For example, the user may be presented with a pre-processed grid that shows the parts of an aircraft, correlated to the respective inventory level for each part of the aircraft. If the user decides to update the inventory level for a specific part, the user cannot simply update the pre-processed grid that shows the correlated data. Instead, the user has to gain access to the original source database that supplies the inventory data, and update that database as necessary. Another database has to be constructed and populated to track and store both the history of the correlated data and the decisions that are made as a result of this secondary data analysis. In addition, to view the updated data for the specific part, the pre-processed grid has to be recreated before the updated inventory data can be presented to the user.
Another problem presented by current software products is the need to purchase analysis tools to supplement the capability of current database applications. As a result, the cost and complexity of analyzing data increases as the number of analysis tools increases.
Furthermore, yet another weakness of current software products is their reliance on textual input from the user to select the relevant structural components to be analyzed. For example, when a user wishes to analyze the wing component of an aircraft, the user is limited to making a selection through a text-based system to select the wing component from a keyword list consisting of all the components in the aircraft. If more specific components need to be analyzed, such as a sub-component of the wing component, the user will have to know the exact text keyword that the software product has assigned to the component. Such a text-based system requires re-training of the user on the software product, leading to additional costs and loss of productivity.
Hence, a frustrated need exists to integrate data in structural analyses and inspection databases, some of which may be legacy systems, into a comprehensive database for the assessment of structural and operational integrity.